Somatosensory
by Famchi
Summary: Kahlan & Cara have captured a wizard named Marlin, possessed by the Emperor Jagang. He escapes the pit Cara and Kahlan were holding him in, with both still in it. In his escape, he inflicts Cara with dark and powerful magic causing a violent reaction.
1. Prologue

**Characters:** Kahlan/Cara. (Potentially more later)**  
>Rating:<strong> T (for later chapters)  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Set in book!verse where Kahlan and Cara have captured a dangerous wizard named Marlin who is possessed by the Emperor Jagang of the Old World. Jagang/Marlin escapes the pit Cara and Kahlan were holding him in, with them both still in it. In his efforts to escape, Jagang inflicts Cara with a dark and powerful magic, causing a violent reaction. Kahlan has no choice but to go after him. (Will certainly contain plenty of tv!verse as it progresses, especially with Cara.)**  
>Disclaimer:<strong>None of them are mine. All credit goes to the big man himself, TG.

**Somatosensory**

**_Prologue_**

She realises she's holding her breath and immediately releases a ragged puff of air. Her eyes are stinging with the acrid smoke still rising from the edges of the pit, among the remnants of stone blocks surrounding them. Kahlan's eyes slowly begin to react again as she vacantly surveys the room. Nadine is shuffling to regain her feet behind her, and Kahlan's attention snaps back to the ladder on the far side of the pit, straight in front of her. With a momentary shudder and a half-hearted attempt at clearing some of the dust from her throat, Kahlan smacks a hand on the nearest rung of the ladder, and pulls.

Kahlan's eyes snap shut at the fresh wave of pure, clear, horrifying sound emanating from the dark pit below her. She didn't know it was possible to hear such a sound come from a human being. She feels revulsion at the knowledge that she left her there…to make those sounds, alone, in the dark, in all probability, to die.

She forces her limbs around and up the ladder as fast as she can move, seeing Marlin's heel whip round the corner of the stone hallway ahead of her. She flattens her hands on the cold stone floor and flinches, as she feels the liquid remainder of those guarding the entrance to the hole. Her breathing is quick and shallow, and she attempts to focus her mind, as terror begins to take hold of her. Pulling herself up with a grimace, she looks ahead, regretting the brief glance at her hands. The blood inevitably belongs to the guards Marlin found blocking his path…and somehow managed to obliterate…still…Kahlan snaps her head quickly from side to side, in an attempt to distract herself…there's no time to think about that.

Unsteady, Kahlan makes it to her feet. Shaking and bloody, she tries to keep herself from seeing the scattered images of Cara's face from just moments before, but Spirits…she's still screaming. And the sound is almost enough to petrify her; glue her in place. She can hardly move as it is. She takes a stumbling step forward, but stray thoughts continue to cloud her mind in panic…Dear spirits, how can she breathe…she's going to stop breathing. Cara's going to die. There's no break in her screaming, how can she breathe?

Kahlan knows she's in shock. Her breathing is still rapid and shallow; her vision blurry, her hearing barely existent…but she has no choice. She has to follow Marlin.

By now, panic is set so deeply in Kahlan's chest that she can barely contemplate anything other than that _sound_…it seems endless. It could be…to a point. Death. Cara's death. She shuts her eyes again to shake the thought…she needs to focus, but the urgency only seems to increase, along with her laboured breathing.

Kahlan can feel her mouth moving, but can't hear anything but Cara…She tells Nadine to stay here. Nadine refuses, and grabs a torch to light their way. Blankly, as if the grasp on the tangle of nerves that has become her senses briefly relents, Kahlan's mind allows her to also recognise the pain still coming from the deep slice in her left arm, gained after Marlin blew apart the wall. She grasps the wound tightly with her right hand, and feels herself beginning to absorb the adrenalin in her body and closes her eyes, steeling herself as Cara's howls persist in penetrating the barriers her mind is continually attempting to raise. Seeming to have them broken down with every inflection of her piercing shrieks; the effect of the sound efficiently and repeatedly managing to crush all conscious thought at moving further away from the woman at it's source.

Her senses are overwhelmed. She might black out. She takes a shaky breath as she leans forward slightly and rests her hands on her knees. She needs to collect herself. She needs to calm down and think. She needs to follow him. But more than anything, all she wants to do is fling herself backwards and jump into the pit.

There are parts of her mind that want her to run, to chase Marlin, to slice him apart, inch by inch, for what he's doing to Cara; There are parts that want to hide, to find the nearest and smallest room and just hug the walls, as tightly as possible, and block every single thing out…even the screams if she could; Then there are the other parts…The parts that want her to run, but not after Marlin. They want her to run and jump headlong back into the blackness below her; into the stinking, morbid, infested hole that at this moment holds only one person. They want her to grasp Cara by the face, by the arms, by the head, and shake her out of it…cradle her, smack her, kiss her…anything to stop her howling…anything to stop her having to feel an ounce more pain.

Kahlan looks up, lips parted, shoulders moving slightly in time with her forced breaths as she peers into the halls ahead of her; and slowly opens her eyes.

She can't. This isn't a decision. This isn't a choice. It's not one or the other. The pain the echo of what remains of Cara's voice is causing in her is soul-destroying…but nothing…not even this…spirits…she closes her eyes again…not _even this,_ is more important than stopping Jagang. There is no way to know what would happen if Marlin escapes, Jagang is an unknowable force. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she stands. Aching but resolute, Kahlan begins to run.

The seconds these thoughts have taken may have cost her…she doesn't know. She runs anyway. She feels a needling urge to look back. But there's no need. She knows where Cara is…she knows what's happening. She can hear her. Looking back won't help. No…she doesn't have a choice, she reminds herself.

She notes a slight break of tone mid-way through Cara's shriek and flinches…this is killing her. Fraction by fraction, whatever force has been unleashed inside of her head is shredding her psyche more and more by the second. No-one can scream like this... Kahlan forces her brain not to pay attention to the scattered panic that's flooding every one of her nerves. She _cannot_ be thinking about Cara. She'll break…she can't catch Marlin if she breaks. She has to be the strongest she's ever been.

Kahlan forces herself…convinces herself that Cara will still be alive when she returns. If… she realizes. She has no concept of what will happen when, or if, she can even catch Marlin, let alone whether she has a chance to survive the chase.

As she begins to pick up speed and wheel her way around the dark halls, Kahlan's mind continues to trick her and muddle her thoughts. She tries to even out her breaths as she turns and runs; fingers grasping at the wall as her feet slip underneath her. She knows her way around this maze better than anyone. As she turns corner after corner, passes lamp after lamp, the repetition of the action begins to settle into something resembling a rhythm…her mind seems to take a breath…she has to plan. What is she doing? Where is she going? How is she going to fight Jagang…be him in the body of a dead man or not, his power is immense and virtually insurmountable.

She can _still_ hear Cara…no change in her voice…how is that possible? No-one can scream for this long.

Kahlan takes a particularly deep breath as she takes another branch to the right, the passageways becoming ever darker and more and more moisture filling the air…

She'll be ok. Spirits, how can she be ok. How can she possibly be ok?

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This chapter takes place after Kahlan and Nadine have fought Marlin/Jagang in the sewers just after he escaped the pit. Unfortunately he gets away from them and flees the palace.

**Somatosensory**

**_Chapter 1_**

An utterly exhausted Kahlan almost smiles as she wanders through the halls, winding back towards the location of the pit. She feels the warmth, and familiarity of being in the more frequented areas of the Palace again seep into her pores. The gushing of the water in the tunnels below must have cleared her head…she can't hear the screaming. But her ears are ringing. Momentarily, Kahlan considers that she may have imagined them, but immediately dismisses the notion. She quickens her step and passes a couple of guards on her way towards the main group close to the pit, busy inspecting the shredded corpses of those guards already at the receiving end of Jagang's wrath.

The first words out of the captain's mouth are of concern for Kahlan, as the Mother Confessor. But Kahlan almost wants to smack him just for making her request take even these few seconds longer to ask.

'How long has she been silent, Captain?'

He pauses slightly before offering an answer. And with an expression housing the tiniest hint of pride, says 'Maybe an hour.'

An hour…

_Maybe_…

…an hour.

Kahlan fought to contain her fury in that moment. Instantly her face took on the appearance of the Confessor, and after a breath, she simply strode off in the direction of the pit without reacting to the captain's questioning expression. He looked confused…as if he didn't realise he should have said any different.

All D'Haran soldiers had a healthy fear of magic…even the Mord'Sith had a healthy fear of magic when it wasn't directed toward them and able to be bent to their will…but this. He didn't even know. It was clear no-one had even looked in to see if Cara was still alive. They probably wouldn't care either way. D'Haran loyalty only went so far. Whatever had caused such indescribable, tremendous pain to warrant _that_ reaction from a _Mord'Sith,_ would be enough to terrify anyone, let alone a D'Haran soldier with a fear of magic.

Kahlan closed her eyes as she walked, and took a calming breath through her nose. If she was dead…If Cara had died because these men didn't save her; were too afraid of magic, even after she stopped screaming…an _hour_ ago…this man…_these_ men…would be returning to the underworld without heads before this hour was ended.

Bearing her signature expression, Kahlan brushed the soldiers aside and advanced straight toward the opening of the pit. The door was still closed; Kahlan only briefly allowed her incensement at the men surrounding it to surface, with a glare, before she stepped onto the ladder and in three neat skips down the rungs, hit the floor.

Piercing eyes swung up in the direction of the blonde, and Kahlan let out her breath.

There she was. Alive.

Cara was in the shadowy corner where Kahlan had left her…the memory of doing so still burned crisp in her mind, and the piercing scream still fresh in her ears. But Cara was no longer crumpled in a heap on her knees. Instead, she was on her side, convulsing; legs and arms thrashing against the walls in a violent, continuous spasm.

Kahlan felt the air remove itself from the room. She didn't run. She didn't walk. She didn't even move. Her entire range of senses, were at this moment, content to simply absorb the facts concerning the scene in front of her.

Cara was shaking violently against the walls, choked sounds joined with the thuds and grating sounds her body was making as it hit stone and scraped across the floor.

She was choking on her own vomit.

Kahlan found her limbs fighting to free themselves from the hold the shock had on her body. Scrambling across the filth covered floor, she reached out and grabbed Cara roughly by the shoulder, as her feet skidded out to the side in the dirt. She grasped Cara under the arms, as best she could avoiding her flailing limbs, and pulled, yanking her clear of the wall and up into her lap, so she wouldn't hurt herself any more than she had already had. She rolled Cara immediately onto her side, facing her to the floor, arms shaking rigidly at her sides.

Kahlan grabbed Cara's jaw to open her mouth but found it clenched completely shut. She pressed hard on the point where Cara's jaw hinged, forcing it forward and her mouth to open.

"Breathe!" "Breathe, Cara, breathe."

She swept two fingers straight through her mouth, deep enough to touch the back of her throat. And sure enough, Cara spluttered and coughed, the obstruction having cleared itself sufficiently to allow her to breathe. Whatever useful outcome this had on Cara's breathing, it had exactly no effect on her convulsions.

Kahlan shuffled her legs closer to the prone woman, making it easier to pull her back into her lap. She had hoped, half-heartedly, that this would snap Cara out of her dazed, afflicted state and offer some kind of relief. But she no idea how to help Cara. She remembered few occasions where she had felt this helpless. She was only just meeting Cara, really…she couldn't die; not now.

Cara was still straining with massive effort, as if trying to escape from her very own skin. Her thrashing, snapping limbs continued their relentless battering at Kahlan's legs, and the floor in equal measure, and Kahlan grasped Cara tighter to herself. Willing it to stop.

Nadine had left to go and fetch her supplies, any number of which might offer Cara some kind of help, but there was no way to know whether anything would help at all. Cara could remain like this until her body simply gave in, unable to take any more. Kahlan knew already that this was a distinct possibility, and though almost every ounce of her will directed itself at believing the opposite…some tiny part of her was focused on that tiny droplet of doubt; that Cara wouldn't survive; and that Jagang would have won his tiny medal of satisfaction in knowing he had caused the Mother Confessor pain.

All Kahlan could do was hold Cara. Hold her, even if the only thing it did was to immobilize Cara and stop her hurting any more than she had to. Kahlan held her as tight as she could manage with her injured shoulder. She held her as tight as she dared, resting her cheek on the top of Cara's head as she waited; time moving wretchedly slowly as she lingered there, alone with Cara; hoping that wherever Nadine was, she was running.

Kahlan gazed at Cara, the shaking becoming less of a shock as it simply carried on, minute after minute. Kahlan looked at her; at her face, bloody and sickeningly pale. Her breath was hitching; she was soaked to the skin, sweat running in droplets down the twisting muscles in her neck and pooling in the notch below. Her eyes weren't even shut, as Kahlan expected; they were open, and blank, but directed almost up into her own head, the whites of her eyes visibly bloodshot. Her jaw had jammed shut again and she simply shook, violently, laid with her head and shoulders in Kahlan's lap, being cradled and held with as much care and tenderness as the situation permitted; which wasn't much. If she had been properly conscious, Cara would have noticed the drop of moisture fall to her head. A tear. From the eye of the woman forming a halo of dark hair around her head as she leant, and cradled her, folding herself around the blonde and taking small gasps of air as fresh tears fell.

Kahlan wondered if these were Cara's last moments, what she must be thinking. She hoped with every tear she was shedding that Cara knew that she was loved; that all of them had come to care for her; that she had earned her place. And she hoped more than anything that she would get a chance to tell those things to Cara again, really tell her. She desperately clung to the smaller woman, as if trying to convince her of these things; that she wouldn't leave her, as if all of the thoughts of care and love running through her head would be magically conveyed to her through touch, and thought. Her tears were falling slowly but freely now, and Kahlan just wished Nadine would hurry, as she smoothed Cara's hair.

"Hold on, Cara. I care."

She sniffed quietly as she nudged the side of Cara's head with her jaw and squeezed the blonde tighter.

"I care. We want you to live"

This woman; this Mord'Sith, once so respected by her peers, had been ruined by them. She had been through immense pain almost every day of her life. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve a second's more pain after all of those days that she had to bear so much. This wasn't fair.

Kahlan grasped Cara's face with one hand as she hugged her across the shoulders with the other, her own shoulders starting to ache with the effort and the vibration caused by Cara's shaking, and rested her cheek on the soft hair adjacent to her temple.

If there was ever a person who had been through _enough_, it was Cara. Kahlan felt a stinging rage fill her heart; as if the fury contained within Kahlan toward Jagang needed any extra fuel.

"Hold on, Cari. You're not alone; I'm with you. I won't leave you. I promise."

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

**Somatosensory**

**_Chapter 2_**

Kahlan snapped her head up as she heard a sound near the ladder to the pit. Nadine had just dropped off the final rung of the ladder, and after she let out a renewed gasp at the sight of Cara, still shuddering in agony, she took a few rushed steps toward Kahlan and fell to her knees at her side. Cara was still convulsing, still smacking her limbs off the ground as she thrashed, and Kahlan making continuous, but futile efforts to soothe her.

Nadine began rifling through her medicine bag in an attempt to find anything relevant and appeared victorious as she pulled out several pieces of sheep's horn and bottles with stoppers and small markings on the side. She yanked out the stoppers and tested them one after the other until she looked up at Kahlan briefly, and shuffled closer, still wary of flailing limbs, as she made her way to Cara's head.

Kahlan found herself feeling increasingly terrified and useless, as she felt Cara's heated skin, and switched her eyes up to Nadine nervously as she felt the intense heat emanating from the blonde.

"What is that?"

"Oil of Lavender. I don't have much that can help but this might calm her down. It's worth a try." She shrugged, applying the oil either side of Cara's throat and then returning to digging through her bag.

Kahlan stroked Cara's face lightly with her free hand. Her holding the blonde was accomplishing barely a thing but she knew Cara might have a few less bruises if…when…she survived; not that a Mord'Sith would be grateful for something so insignificant, she knew. She began musing on what kind of lasting effects might be left from this ordeal, just setting onto the potential brain damage Cara could suffer, when Nadine gasped sharply. She'd found something. Kahlan looked up at her, resting her hand on Cara's cheek and gave Nadine a wordless look.

"Tincture of maypop. It's a strong sedative and painkiller. It should stop the paroxysm at least, stop her thrashing around; offer some relief to the pain she must be feeling."

They were starved for time and every moment they spent considering potential effects could be moments Cara needed recovering.

Kahlan looked back at Nadine and nodded.

"Alright, what do we do?"

"She needs to swallow this." She stated as she made her way over to Cara's head again and removed the stopper of the small bottle.

This was magic; very powerful, dark magic. Kahlan had no idea what could stop something a man as powerful as Jagang had inflicted on Cara. She didn't know if there would be anything that could. He had wanted to torment Kahlan, and he knew this would do it.

"It'll help." Nadine offered quietly, as she moved the small bottle nearer Cara's mouth. Kahlan stared at Cara's damp, pale face as they wrestled against the muscles in her jaw, forcing it open again. The tremors wracking her body showed absolutely no sign of stopping. They didn't have a choice but to try.

"I wouldn't do that."

Both women whipped round in shock as they heard a man's voice. A broad, tall man in reddish robes, complete with a hood shrouding his face in shadow, had made his way silently down the ladder and was striding calmly towards them.

"Give it here."

He spoke evenly, but with authority, and Nadine didn't hesitate to hand over the small bottle, despite frowning at the man.

"Who are you!" She barked, clearly indignant at her skills and knowledge being taken into question by this stranger.

"My name is Drefan. But that is of little relevance right now. Let's see what we can do here." He pondered Cara's shivering form below him, and walked around to Kahlan's position behind her head. "Excuse me." He said, as he touched Kahlan's shoulder slightly with his open hand as if to announce his intent to have her move out of the way. Kahlan glanced at him, briefly, but moved anyway.

For all she knew, this man was going to save Cara from whatever forces were fighting their way around her body. Then again he could do more damage.

In a moment of suspicious clarity, as she surveyed the large man beside her, she realised he reminded her a lot of Richard…

TBC


End file.
